Hunting

After playing with the armband for a while it still stayed on like a second skin, even my claws couldn't leave a scratch, not knowing how to take it off I decided to just leave it alone, I dragged the two beast corpses into my cave and skinned them. The meat would last me a few days while I scouted out the surrounding areas for threats, I also needed to find a source of water. There are a few plants that could store water and by sucking on the vines you could draw from their water stores. Of course, the only one I had ever seen was back in the burrow so for now, so I would need to find another source while I searched for the water plants.

Sitting with my back against the stone side of the cave I took a bite of beast meat, the energy of the first bite was like a gentle wave that swept through my body. The intensity of the energy was small compared to the bear meat I had had before, yawning I walked to my leaf bed and collapsed, there was a bit of pain radiating from the scratches and bites on my body, though it had mostly been relieved by the energy from the meat, I placed a few leaves against the wounds. Exhaustion started to come over me and I blacked out.

Waking with a start I sat up, the dream from last night was fresh in my mind, it seemed as if weeks had gone by, in it I learned how to light a fire and cook the beast meat, how to build traps that would be useful in killing large beasts and other survival means. I couldn't remember why I had done all that but there was a hazy figure in the background always talking though I couldn't always understand what it was saying the meaning had made its way into my mind. Standing up I went outside my home and grabbed a few dry branches off the ground, running back inside I threw it down and piled it into a pyramid I used a claw to create shavings from another branch into the center of the pile and pointed my armband at the pile I thought of the spark needed to start the fire. A few moments went by as I thought of the spark, sweat dripped from my brow, the small lights on the armband began to speed up and a small spark leaped from the armband to the shavings.

A few moments later the shavings started to catch, the fire started to lick at the thicker branches, I went back outside and got a few skinny branches to set up a small spit. I skewered the meat and placed it on the rough looking spit, spinning it slowly just like I had in my dream the meat started to sizzle the juices heating up and dripping into the fire. The smell started out light but quickly changed into a delicious aroma raw meat, insects, and fruit had been the only thing I had ever eaten and this smelled so good it was hard restraining myself from eating the half-finished meat.

I slowly turned the meat for a little longer before taking it away from the spit, I bit into the meat the hot juices spilled down my throat and grease covered my chin. This was far more delicious than raw meat, one after I ate the succulent pieces of meat relishing in the wonderful experience of cooked food.

After finishing the meat I thought back on how what I had learned in the dreams had been real, and amazing, now I wanted to try the traps but first I would need to know what prey was around me, of course, I would still place traps around my home just like the spiders had around the burrow though I wish I had some thread like the spiders to set up traps in the treetops but I would have to figure that out later for now I would be placing a trap that was basically a giant hole in the ground with spikes at the bottom, the top would have a light covering that wouldn't be too noticeable to the naked eye.

Though from what I could understand was the larger the beast was the deeper the hole needed to be so as to cause a fatal injury, though if the trap can wound a large beast and bring it down to my level than it would still be worth it, there were a few other traps that I could create I would need tools to help make them, I could make the tools from stone and sharpen them though I would need to replace them as the durability of stone tools would be low.

For now, I put the idea of the tools away and grabbed the hides from the two beasts I had killed the night before, using my claws I cut a few pieces out from the two hides, I had enough for two legs wraps and a piece that wrapped around my abdomen. Walking away from my home I ran into the forest, I spotted a low lying branch and hopped up and climbed my way into the vast highways of branches. I slowly made a circle around my new home tracking any beasts that had homes or burrows near my home, especially any nests like the spiders.

A few days later I had tracked and marked most of the large beasts and nests near my home along with a small creek that I could drink from while I searched for that water vine. I had selected my target not long after I discovered the source of my water, a large single boar had a path it took every day, most beasts gave it plenty of space but the large scars on the boar showed it had seen plenty of action or knew when to run away.

I returned home and began preparing for the fight, I roasted some insects and a few small lizards over the fire while I crafted the spikes for the pitfall. It took a few tries to get it right but it helped that I had a knife made from beasts claw, much faster than using my own claws to carve the wood. I put the spearheads into the coals of the fire overnight to help them harden, the next morning I sat in the trees and watched the boar slowly walk its path through the forest, after it had wandered away I jumped to the forest floor with my shovel and began to dig into the dirt, it took most of the day to dig the hole and set the spikes, I draped a few leafy branches over the pit and covered them with a layer of dirt.

Weary from the days' work I climbed back into the trees and took a piece of meat from my handcrafted pouch, chewing on the meat I sat and waited through the entire night until the next morning when the boar finally came into view, I slowly made my way down the tree to a lower branch, the boar walked past where I was hiding and approached the trap, unfortunately, I hadn't placed the trap in its direct path and with its wandering it would just barely walk around the edge of the pit. I dropped from my branch landing on a small dry branch making a loud sound that drew the boars attention, it stared at the tree I was behind, peeking around the side of the tree I let it spot me.

It huffed at me and stared at me in silence, after a few moments it turned to continue on its path, angry that the boar just ignored my existence I scooped up a rock and hurled it at the boar striking its rear in a very sensitive spot. It squealed and turned launched forward for a few meters before it turned back to look at me, its eyes red it huffed and stomped its feet, its eyes were nearly all red at this point and it charged at me, it didn't get far as it fell front first into the pitfall, a loud squeal came from the trap and then silence. Looking into the pit the boar had been pierced by many of the spikes and had died almost immediately as a spike had caught it in the eye. The rest of the day had been cutting up the boar and transporting it back home while killing any scavengers that came for my kill, though a few lucky ones took a few bites and got away.

Thinking back on the last few days of hunting and eating and making my tools and traps I had enjoyed being the hunter and eventually I would hunt down the spiders, and hopefully, find my family.